A classified report by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) reveals that crimes by Indian student permit holders increased a whopping 8,800 per cent between 2016 and 2024. It ranked India the “top source” country of foreign students charged with crimes.

Global BC’s Stewart Bell in a report titled “Classified report reveals how India’s Bishnoi gang uses Canada’s student visa program,” says that the CBSA’s Intelligence and Investigations Directorate’s “Tactical Guide,” titled “The Bishnoi Gang: An Emerging Threat in Canada,” was circulated in December 2025 to help immigration officers deal with the extortion crisis plaguing South Asian communities.

Between 2019 and 2023, 4,000 Indian citizens who entered Canada on study permits were charged with 17,929 offences. A third of the charges, or 4,920, were considered serious or organized crime-related, while 97 per cent of those offences were deemed violent, according to the report.

In 2024, more than 13,040 criminal charges were laid against Indian citizens in Canada on study visas – a significant spike.

Bell, however, notes that “the report does not mention that the 2,418 who were charged represent just over one per cent of the 188,125 Indian students that year, but rather emphasizes the upward trend.”